New fur parent of a little mini dschshund! Food advice?

[Yammy]

We just picked up little Jax two days ago, and the lady made us buy a $40 bag of dog food! Blah! I want to transfer him to raw but I am wondering how to do it..and what/how much to feed him!

Anyone else have dachshunds who are raw?

Jax is 11 weeks old and I would estimate 5 lbs - if that.

Any advice is welcome. Thanks!

[fjernsyn]

I don't know the answer but cuuuuuuute!

[lafsalot]

Congrats on your new family addition - he is too cute!!

By raw, I assuming you are referring to barf. If that is the case, you usually feed 10% of the dog's body weight. Hence, in the case of a ten pound puppy, you would feed one pound of food divided into three or four small feedings a
day.

Give your little fubaby a hug from me ~ Cathy

[greenday]

http://stevesrealfood.com/

Try the website above -- they carry this raw pet food at Whole Foods and other places. You can check where on the site. Hope this helps. And..what a CUTIE!!! I grew up with a doxie-mix and have a real fondness in my heart for the wiener dogs.

[StarFire]

Yammy.... congratulations mommy!! I don't know the answer either -- I just wanted to say that he's so cute!!

[meancat]

Jax is too cute!!! Pet him and give him a kiss for me!!!

[Yammy]

He just had his first bark (that we've heard) a few minutes ago! fierce! And I just noticed the puppy smell in our apartment...boo! He's such a cutie ;)

[Xanadu]

You might want to get him started with chicken wings and livers if he's old enough. When he was little we used heavy kitchen shears to cut them up for our cat. The longer you feed him this way the stronger his teeth will get but if you wait till he's full grown his teeth will be too weak to chew larger bones like beef bones so start now and no cooked bones - they are brittle and fragment but the raw ones are what they are built to eat. Also eating this way he will be far less likely to develope the neuroses that some dogs get not to mention cancer, diabetes, etc. Anyway here's the formula I copied off a barf site:

Billinghurst recommends 60% RMBs and 40% veggies, etc... however; 60% to 75% CAN BE RMBs and the rest should be a combination of veggies, organs (also known as offal, to include liver, heart, kidney, green tripe, etc...), ground meat (e.g. lean beef, chicken or turkey), eggs and supplements. If you are just starting BARF, remember to start slow by adding new food items every few days or even weeks, until your dog gets used to the new food (especially the richer foods like liver). This is only a guide to help get you started. If your dog is on the skinnier side, up the food (RMBs) and reduce the veggies....if your dog is on the heavier side, reduce the RMBs and up the veggies. To know if your dog is 'just right,' rub the back of your hand.....his/her ribs should feel the same. If you can't feel his/her ribs, then reduce the daily food intake.
Multiply your dogs weight by 16 to get the number of ounces he weighs.
Multiply that by .02, which gives you 2 % of his body weight.
Multiply that by .6 to give you the weight of RMB you should feed. That is chicken necks, wings, backs etc.
Go back to the 2% of his body weight again and multiply that number by .4 to get the weight in ounces of vegetable patty mix you should feed.
For example: One of my Boxers weighs 70 Lbs. Here's the formula I used to calculate the daily food intake when I started:
70Lbs x 16 = 1120 ounces
1120 x .02 = 22.4 ounces of food per day
22.4 x .6 = 13.44 ounces of RMB -----60% RMB
22.4 x .4 = 8.96 ounces of Veg. Patty mix.-----40% Veg. Patty mix.
Remember this is only a place to start - adjust everything up or down, depending on your dogs condition.

[summer12]

I have both my rescue dogs on Natural Balance Vegetarian Dog Food. My 4 year old aussie has been on it for 3 years now and the vet could not believe at his last ck up how healthy he was. His teeth and coat look amazing and he does not smell. My one year old heeler/ lab has been on it for 3 months now. She had dandruff and smelled on the puppy food. Not anymore. I know it is not raw but it is vegan and I can't bring myself to feed them raw chicken and other dead animals. Good Luck he's sooo cute.

[Xanadu]

Not argueing myself but there are vegetarian veterinarians that wish they could feed their pets vegetarian but don't because they say it is not healthy longterm.